


held on as tightly as you held on me

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Breakups, Coulson as a stay at home dad, Coulson being good with kids, Daisy as a working mom basically, Daisy being good with kids, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hugs, Humor, Inhuman culture, Inhumans (Marvel), Interspecies Romance, Junk Food - Freeform, Lincoln Campbell's Inhuman issues, Sappy, Simmons trying to make people eat her healthy treats, Star Wars References, parenting, skoulsonfest2k16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-12 20:46:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5680129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>skoulsonfest2k16 - DAY 7 · 24 January - free theme</p><p>Daisy and Coulson rescue an Inhuman child and get attached to her while they try to find a place she can call home.  Title from Cinematic Orchestra's "To Build A Home".</p>
            </blockquote>





	held on as tightly as you held on me

“Lincoln thinks we should observe her for a week. Make sure her powers stabilize before we place her with an Inhuman family.”

The little girl is lying in the pod, knocked out from the transitioning techniques used that put her in a semi-conscious state until the process is completed.

Things were already out of hand, but now Malick is targeting children, and it makes his stomach turn.

They trace the fish oil to the kitchen in the orphanage.  Paid someone off to expose children to this. And who knows how many other places this has happened?

It went on long enough for someone to start manifesting powers, and they never would’ve known if Daisy and her team hadn’t combed through the data that Price had shared with them.

Found out a way to trace the payoff account.

They barely got her out in time, protecting the other children and taking out HYDRA agents.  One of them Inhuman, just to rub salt in.

“Is there someone who can take her?” he asks, turning to look at Daisy.  
  
“Lincoln's looking into it. We don't know what happened to her parents.  Where they are,” she says, hugging her arms around herself.  “If they’re even alive.”  
  
“I'm sorry. This must stir up so many feelings for you.”

She meets his eyes for a moment and gives him a sad but grateful smile.  
  
“Yes, but while she's here,” she says with determination. “I'm going to do everything I can to let her know she's cared for, and that she has people she belongs to now.”  
  
“Good,” he replies.  It always amazes him how strong she is.  
  
“You can talk to her, too?” she asks, looking at him hopefully. “I mean, you're welcome to. If you want.”  
  
“Thanks,” he says, looking back at the girl through the window. “Would you like me to?”  
  
“Sure,” she shrugs. “I...you like kids, right?”  
  
“Yes. Theoretically,” he sighs. “It's been awhile since I've been around one.”  
  
“Great,” she says, touching her hand to his arm for a moment, then turns to walk away.  
  
“Daisy,” he calls after her. “Why me?”  
  
She turns back to him for a moment, bites on her bottom lip.

“Because I trust you.”

 

 

He's very affected by her request.  
  
More than he wants to admit at first, but then he has no choice, because he can’t stop thinking about it.  
  
He wants this for her.  Even feels relieved he has something she thinks he can contribute here.  
  
Shaving for the first time in a while isn't fun, but he does it because he wants to seem friendly, approachable.  And he hasn’t felt very much like either of those things since coming back from the alien world.  
  
The hand he can't hide, but he'll work that out.  The poor kid’s seen stranger things at this point.

And this is what he’s good at. Or, he used to be.  Being a part of the “Welcome Wagon” as Daisy once called it.  
  
He almost puts on a button down and decides on a t-shirt instead, even though it makes his prosthetic so obvious, and finds his way to the containment pod now that Malia is awake from the transition.

She’s inside, sitting up in the bed and playing a game on the pad Daisy gave her, as he takes a breath and then presses the button to open the door.

“Are you Phil?” she asks peering at him intently once he’s inside.  
  
“Yes,” he says. Obviously Daisy had let her know to expect him. “Is it okay if I come in?”  
  
“You look like him,” she shrugs, as he waits for her to answer, but she doesn’t, so he closes the door after him.

She’s probably not used to being asked what she does or doesn’t want.

“Why is that?”

“Daisy said Phil has blue eyes and looks nice.”  
  
“And you're Malia?” he asks politely, a little too charmed already.  
  
“Yep,” she says, staring back down at the pad.  
  
“Can I sit down?” he says, gesturing with his hand at the free chair as she nods.  
  
“Daisy’s an orphan like me,” she announces, staring up at him. “Are you an orphan?”  
  
“No,” he says, slowly sitting. “But I lost my dad when I was a kid.”  
  
“How do you lose your dad?” she asks, letting the pad fall to the wayside.  
  
He wrestles with it a moment and then just tells her. “He died,” he says, quietly, giving her a guilty smile after.  
  
“I'm sorry,” she says, staring back at him, with big empathetic eyes.  
  
“Me too.”  
  
“Is your hand that way because you have a gift?” she asks, pointing at it after looking at him more carefully.

"You have a lot of questions."

"Daisy said I can ask you any question."

He raises his eyebrows, amused at her boldness, then answers. “No. I lost my hand and this replaced it."

Holding up the prosthetic he wiggles his fingers, like he's giving a demonstration.  
  
“Like Luke Skywalker?” she grins, and he nods. “Do you lose stuff a lot?”  
  
He almost laughs to cover it up, and it catches in his chest.  The obviousness of it, she must be able to see it on him.  
  
“It feels like that sometimes,” he tells her, lowering his hand. “It's getting better, though.”  
  
“I lose stuff.”  And she hugs her knees up against her, like she’s hugging herself now.  
  
“You find people that understand how it hurts, and that helps?”  
  
“Like Daisy.”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“I like her,” she says, pulling at the bottom of her leggings, staring at her bare feet.  
  
“Me too,” he says fondly. “Do you have friends?  
  
“Some,” she frowns, tucking her face into her shoulder. “But I hurt them.  I don’t have a home now.”  
  
“We're going to find you a home,” he promises her, seeing her little face twist up.

 

 

“Phil.”

He snorts as he wakes up and looks around. 

Somehow he dozed off in the bed while he was reading her a story.

Malia is fast asleep curled up against the wall, and he sits up and sees Daisy looking down at him in the dim light.

“You fell asleep. And Mack still needs your field report. I’m sorry I’ve been so busy lately.”

“Mmmn,” he agrees, trying to shift off the bed so he doesn’t wake her.

“Malia says you keep changing the ending of the stories,” she whispers, closing the book of fairy tales.

He gets up and stretches his back a little, stops when he hits a tender spot.  “Yeah. So?”

“She's heard these stories before. She's a smart kid,” she tells him, pulling the covers up over Malia. "She knows I'm not the prince."  
  
“Who cares?” he yawns. “She laughs the whole time,” he says, smiling. “Besides, I want her to look up to you.”

He sees her smoothing the girl’s dark, wavy hair down around her ear with her fingers, and forgets what they were talking about for a moment and just watches.  
  
“Yeah, but she also told me, extensively, about you braiding your long, golden hair,” she says, standing up and raising an eyebrow at him.  
  
He chuckles.  “I don't have any.  That’s why it’s funny.”  
  
“You're ridiculous,” she says. “But, since I can’t deny it’s nice to see you smiling these days, you’re off the hook.”  
  
“You’re welcome.”

She lifts her hand and smooths down his hair, her fingers brushing against his forehead. He’s a little shocked by the intimacy of it.

“Bed head,” she explains, when she’s finished.

“I should wrap-up my field report,” he tells her. 

Neither one of them is moving.

“You’re really great,” she says. “With Malia. With people.”

“I’m just glad to help.”

“I know.”

 

 

“Hi Phil,” she says, sitting up, looking thoroughly put out and exhausted.  At least the six-year-old version of it.

He gets it.  She’s been trapped in this pod for several days, and he can relate.  He was stuck while he was recovering when he lost his hand.

It sucks.  And it’s boring.   They’re still running tests on her gift.

“What happened to your head?” she asks, terribly curious, as he grabs the controller for the monitor in her room and sits down in the chair.

“My job is dangerous sometimes,” he answers, then points at his eyebrow. “This is the result.  Usually.”

She laughs at him and gets suddenly bright-eyed. “Daisy said you had a surprise for me.”

“Oh, did she?” he asks, punching the buttons and using his password entry to access the files.

“Yes.  What is it?” she says eagerly.

“You like Star Wars, right?” he answers, looking over at her.

“Yeah.”

“Someone might have told you this already, but we work for a secret organization?”

“Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division,” she recites with her eyes shut, stumbling over it a little.

“Very good,” he says, impressed.  “So this is top secret, got it?”

She nods, and he pushes the button and watches as her eyes get bigger as the movie starts to play on the monitor.

She hugs the blanket up against her face and kicks her feet out in front of her when the titles start to roll.

“Are you guys starting the movie without me?” Daisy asks, walking in, eating some popcorn out of a bowl and dangling a box of candies in her hand and she pushes the button to close the door with her elbow.

“Daisy!” Malia gasps, looking at them both.

“You just have to swear not to turn me in for piracy,” she says, sitting down on the bed next to her.  “Swear.  Then scoot.”

“I swear.  Can I be a piratecy?"

" _No_ ," they both answer her at the same time.

"Can we turn the lights out?” she asks gleefully, taking the bowl from Daisy and hugging her tight around the middle.

“Yes,” Coulson says, pushing another button on the controller.

“Phil, you can come, too,” Malia leans forward in the dark to look at him.

“I’m good here, but thank you.”

 

 

“I heard what the doctor said,” she tells him, as he quickly shuts the door after him, locking them in.

Her powers are manifesting and he can barely stand up straight.

“I'm too little? No one wants me!” she says, tears starting to run down her face.

“Malia I need you to listen to me,” he tells her, putting his hand out in front of him, grabbing for the chair before he falls over.

“They’re scared of me. They don't want me,” she answers, her hands balling into little fists.

“Malia! I'm not scared of you, okay? Look at me.  Do I look scared to you?”

“Don't lie!”

“I wasn't scared when this happened to Daisy,” he says, inching closer to her.

“Why?”

“Because I knew Daisy would never hurt me, if she could help it. And you’re like Daisy, Malia.”

“You need me to help you?”’

“Yes.”

Her powers start to recede and she’s sobbing, and he takes a deep breath, now that he doesn’t feel like he’s drowning.

He asks her if he can hug her.

“ _Yes_ ,” she says desperately.

He wraps his arms around her and pulls her against him.

“Phil?” Daisy asks, opening the door behind him, her eyes wide as Lincoln looks in after.

“It's okay,” he says to Malia, looking back at Daisy and nodding.

“Thank you,” she says, when he exits the pod.  
  
He stares back at her worried expression, then she throws her arms around his neck and hugs him tightly.  
  
It takes him off guard for a moment, but then he hugs her back, closing his eyes, wrapping her up in his arms as she buries her face against him.  
  
“I'm sorry,” Lincoln says from a distance. “I didn't mean for her to hear that.”  
  
“I'm sure you didn't,” he replies, pulling away from Daisy. “You should tell Malia that.”  
  
“Okay. I will.”  
  
He sees Lincoln eyeing them and realizes his hands are still on Daisy, and has a moment of déjà vu. The memory of her leaving with Lincoln for Afterlife.  It felt like the longest goodbye.  
  
Daisy steps away from him now.  
  
“You should be more careful,” he tells him.  
  
“I said I was-“  
  
“Guys, can we talk about this somewhere else?” Daisy interrupts, motioning towards the pod.  
  
“Yeah,” Lincoln answers, turning around and walking back down the corridor.  
  
Coulson hesitates, then Daisy presses her fingers around his arm. “Phil?”  
  
“Alright,” he says following after her.

 

 

“It's not that simple,” Lincoln says, looking over at Daisy with his head lowered.  
  
“They don't want her because she's not the right kind of Inhuman?” Coulson asks, looking at him like he’s unsure and then at Daisy.  
  
“Jaiying was very careful about who she selected to go through Terrigenesis,” Lincoln continues. “And never that young. The last time that happened-“  
  
“Bahrain,” Daisy cuts in, giving Coulson a worried look.  
  
“They don't want to be exposed,” Lincoln continues. “They see it like a bad omen. We were taught to hide, and now with the ATCU...”  
  
“Everyone's afraid,” Coulson finishes. “She’s just like you both, though. I don't understand.”  
  
“We have to make sure she's not unstable,” Lincoln tells him.  
  
“Unstable?” he asks. “Are you serious?”

“Look,” Lincoln says, meeting his eyes. “She's a weapon.”  
  
“Then so are you,” he replies.  
  
Lincoln sighs and starts to explain. “Yes. And my powers, Daisy's, they can be harmful.  But we can control it. Malia's-“  
  
“How do you know she can't?” Coulson snaps.  "Do you even know what she does?"  
  
“Vertigo,” he answers, leaning forward. “I know quite a lot about how that affects the body.”  
  
“We don't know if that's all she can do.” Daisy tells him.  
  
“You have another idea?” He asks, turning on her.  “Great.  Let’s hear it.”  
  
“No,” she answers. “But Simmons might.  And Malia’s not twisted or unstable.  I’ve talked to her.  So has Coulson. She's just trying to make sense-”  
  
“Your mother did things the way she did for a reason,” he cuts in. “You can't save everyone and this situation is out of control.  She’s too young to have these powers.”  
  
“These are people’s lives we're talking about,” Coulson jumps in. “They didn’t choose this.”  
  
“Neither did we," Lincoln says, incredulous.  "We got along fine without SHIELD for centuries. Instead you can think about how _your_ interfering has changed all of that."

Coulson doesn't have any ready reply to that, which seems to just exhaust Lincoln further.

"Look, you two figure it out. You can use the Codex and find her a home.  Maybe you’ll have better luck than I have?”

They watch him leave and Coulson turns to look at her.

“Is vertigo even a power?  That sounds like something from a comic book.”

“Phil, he’s a doctor,” she answers, rolling her eyes. “And there’s more going on here. Inhuman culture is very-“

“Backwards?”

“You’re not helping.”

 

 

“Lincoln is right,” Simmons tells them. “She does cause vertigo. Triggered by strong emotions, of course.  Fear response in particular.”

They both stare at her back as she's hunched over the holotable, waiting for her to continue.

“Did she like my vegan cookies?” she asks them over her shoulder.

“No,” Daisy tells her.

“Not exactly a fear response,” Coulson says, “But, she tried to feed them to her stuffed Chewie and he spit them out.“

Simmons isn’t even sure what he’s going on about, only that she’s being insulted.

“You liked them, didn't you?” she says, turning towards them both.

“Yes, but I'm not six,” Coulson says.

“They don't like things based on loyalty at that age,” Daisy adds.

Simmons sighs.

“Vegan means no butter, right?” Coulson mentions, like he’s pained.

“Shall we get back to the point of this discussion?” Simmons continues, finishing pulling up the data she’s been collecting on Malia.

“Of course. I mean, _I_ like them,” Daisy tells her.

“I think she controls barometric pressure,” Simmons says with a smile. “Which can cause barotrauma.”

They both wait for it.

“It can damage the inner ear, temporarily, creating vertigo-like effects.”

They both sigh in relief.

“That’s totally not a weapon thing,” Coulson tells Daisy with a shrug. “She can manipulate weather patterns.”

“So Malia could stop a tornado?” she asks Simmons. “Or help people with altitude sickness?”

“She can do a lot of awful things to a body, which I think was Lincoln’s concern,” she says, tapping her fingers on the table. “But, yes.  I think it could be used similar to your powers, Daisy.  She controls the density of air.”

Simmons gets out of the way while they hug each other.

“Are we going to keep her?” she asks, watching their celebration.  “I just think it’s really lovely.”

“What?” Coulson asks, with his arms still wrapped around Daisy.

“It feels like when I’m with my family,” she says.  “Like the time my cousin Archie got food poisoning and we all loaded up to go to the hospital because we thought he might die.”

“Did he?” Daisy asks.

“Oh, no.  He was fine. My aunt and uncle hugged for _ages_ after.”

 

Malia is with them for almost a month.

Eating together.  Reading together.  Daisy shows her about controlling her powers and they practice on it. 

She gets to walk the Coccoon with an escort and meet the other Inhumans.  Joey is her new favorite.

Movie nights and games.  They pick out some new clothes on the internet and he gets them for her.  She loves robots and rainbows.

Malia asks one day to cut her hair short like Daisy’s, so he does for her.

That’s how long it takes for them to find parents for Malia. 

And when they do, they decide together, to put her with human parents. A retired couple that he knows were loyal to SHIELD, from back in the day.

It doesn’t take long for Daisy to find him, crying in the empty pod when she’s gone home with them.

He feels her hand sliding along his back, comforting him with circles.

“I thought I wanted this for you,” he says, turning his face towards her. “I wanted it.”

“Me too,” she admits, leaning forward to wipe at the tears on his face.

He finally looks up at her and sees her own face. Puffy eyes and red nose, and he hugs her close to him.

“I’m sorry,” he tells her against her hair.  “About all of this.  This life. You deserve so much more.”

“Lincoln left.”

He’s sorry for that too, to have her feel like she’s carrying all of it alone.

“He can’t condone the way we do things,” she goes on, sitting back. “He said we’re just making weapons for SHIELD.”

“That’s not true,” he tells her, taking her hand. “Malia is with good people, safe.” He squeezes her fingers. “HYDRA will never find her.”

“And when she has an accident, or wonders why she’s different, then we’ll bring her here, and train her.  What if he’s right?”

“It will _never_ happen,” he tells her, cupping her face in his hand. “Because we’re going to protect her.  That’s why we’re here.”

“He said that I would never leave you,” she says as she puts her hand over his, pressing it against her face.

He pulls her against him, kissing her, as she grabs at him, hands flattening against his back as she gets her arms around him, moving up to his shoulders as she holds on to him.

“We’ll visit her,” he says, between kisses.  “We can even take some time off?”

“Yes.  I’ll teach her more about her gift,” she says, smiling against his mouth. “You can tell her your ridiculous stories.”

“Even if she does want to be SHIELD someday, what’s wrong with that?” he says, tightening his arms around her, dotting kisses on her face. “What’s wrong with her wanting to be like you?”

Her eyes glass over, and she presses her lips against his before she can start to cry again.

“Could we watch the new Star Wars again?” she asks, her voice a little weary.  “And eat junk food?”

“Okay,” he agrees.  “I’ll go get the stuff.”

“And cuddle?” she asks when he’s standing.

“Sounds like a good plan.”

 

 

They fall asleep in the pod, just before the movie ends.

Daisy curled up against his side, and warm against him.

He would keep telling himself it’s a fantasy, that none of this is going to slow down or stop for them to have a little bit of happiness.

But he can’t, with Daisy in his arms.

 

 


End file.
